Food pumps used in restaurants, fast food establishments, convenience stores, and the like to dispense liquid foods such as syrups and fudges for ice cream, condiments, sandwich toppings, dairy products, and other food products have to be readily cleaned.
Generally food product dispensing pumps have been piston displacement pumps made up of welded or brazed stainless steel assemblies housing one way valves each for intake and outlet. The outlet leads to a discharge tube that directs the flowing product through a lid to a point handy for application of the product.
The typical food pump as used in the past has several shortcomings. Multiple parts were often required to obtain proper valve action. Because sanitary conditions are required for components in contact with food products, brazing was often the method chosen to join the many components. Effects of brazing were found to introduce other problems, such as corrosion. Some cleaning chemicals further weaken brazed joints. Due to the viscosity of certain products, such as fudge topping, it is necessary to confine the movement of the floating valve balls. Formerly, the valve balls were restricted by various devices such as springs, pins, and cages. The devices used to limit valve ball movement often created straining and eventual clogging when used with food products containing chunks and strands, such as strawberries, beans, onions, and the like.
As the food pump handles food products, it is necessary to periodically clean the pump and in many instances, the typical pump is difficult to disassemble for cleaning purposes. Moreover, many food pumps contain loose springs, pins, valve retainers, valve cages and other small and intricate parts which are difficult to handle and thoroughly clean. In addition to a large number of intricate parts, the typical food pump, when disassembled, often has limited access to the lower end of the cylinder and/or discharge tube, making it difficult to thoroughly clean these tubes.